Emergent Design Process

Genetic Algorithm as Digital Design Tool

As architecture enters the new era of digital representation, geometrical theories and processes are being implemented, tested, and pushed to their limits. Recent theories of form in architecture have focused on computational methods of formal exploration and expression. From topological geometry and hyper surfaces to blobs and folds, there is a clear tendency to seek and explore formal properties as sources of ordering systems. For the last two decades, designers have been concerned with the use of computational mechanisms for the exploration of formal systems. These practices have attempted to readdress formal issues using new techniques and methods. Computational tools are central protagonists in this exploration.

Automated computer algorithms that generate previously unimagined and even undetermined virtual architecture strive to translate the expression of design ideas as perceived by designers. Algorithmic architecture involves the designation of software programs to generate space and form from the rule-based logic inherent in architectural programs. Instead of direct programming, the codification of design intention using scripting languages available in 3D packages (i.e. Maya Embedded Language MEL, 3DMaxScript, and Form Z 4.0) can build consistency, structure, coherency, traceability, and intelligence into computerized 3D form. This research paper investigates and explores genetic algorithms and computational methods that would encapsulate the processes that lead to the generation of logical and meaningful architectural form.